ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH CATERPILLAR IN DORSET

This fearsome creature was within an inch of being crushed by my heedless foot… but luckily it made a surprisingly agile lurch to one side just in time. I had no idea what it was, other than the largest caterpillar I have ever come across. Everyone else will know, of course, that it is the childhood form of what will become an elephant hawk-moth Deilephila elpenor. I haven’t knowingly seen one of those either.

These caterpillars have three ‘poses’. The first is the usual day-to-day one, as it goes about its business with its little snout – or ‘trunk’ – extended. Note the four prominent ‘eye’ markings behind the head.

At the threat of danger, the caterpillar assumes its ‘elephant’ pose, tucking away its snout and humping its front end so that the 4 ‘eyes’ glare intimidatingly. From the front, there is the hint of a mouth, with two sharp eyes above it.

From above, the creature looks like a formidable, probably toxic adversary, to be given a wide berth.

The third pose is a so-called snake pose, whereby the caterpillar curves its body, and, as I found, continues to do so back and forth accompanied by alarmingly quick ‘head’ movements, as if squirming menacingly. I backed away, before bravely putting it on a laurel leaf to move into better light in order to inspect it further. At the back, there’s a backward-facing hook or spike – in common with most hawk-moth species I think.

I haven’t investigated how the eyes are constructed, but the white parts are plainly holes rather than surface marking

I had to look up what the actual moth looks like, and courtesy of wiki I can reveal what everyone probably knows already – like this:

Had I wanted to straighten it out, the caterpillar would have been over 2 inches long. Quite wide, too. All-in-all an impressive beast.

Thanks! Glad I didn’t squish it. As for your moth, au contraire… apparently it is ‘…our largest resident hawk-moth…’ which presumably goes for France too. The next day we had 3 granddaughters under 6 staying – I tried to locate the caterpillar for their delectation, without success. Profoundly unimpressed by mere photos!

Impressive for sure, and doubtless messy when squished. Glad I saw it in time. Now I know what the adult (imago????) looks like, I’ll need to keep an eye out. At least it can’t be confused with any other moth! RH